In the Shadows of the World Legacy
by Polarissruler
Summary: Auram has heard the rumors - someone has been draining magic from the earth and strange machines are appearing in the night. A wizard is building a weapon, say the people - but no one knows who or why. It is very simple - Ningrisu has taken over Lee's lab. Auram does not believe the rumors - but maybe it is time to check on an old friend.


**Isn't the card lore quite interesting? You know the bare bones of the plot, but nothing about the characters and you can interpret them however you want. My brother sees Ningrisu as absolutely obsessed and does not realize Ib will not want saving her if it meant him becoming Longrisu. I think that... That's what the fic's for; read and find out. I hope you like it!**

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Auram pushed the heavy door. It did not even budge, creaking loudly and scratching the floor. Something enormous was keeping it in its place, stopping him to enter. A barricade? He forced it to move. Metal hit metal, a heavy thing fell on the floor and the door opened. Auram picked his swords - shining brilliant blue - and entered.

Daylight usually made things less scary - but the undergrounds of Lee's lab cared not for the sun. With each step, the green lights - a legacy from a foregone era - flickered on and off. Small sparks flew around the edges of the shining tubes, hissing like Krawlers. Auram blinked a few times. No matter how many times he entered, he could not get used to the darkness. Piles of rubble shook as another door closed behind him. Nothing had changed since they went there for the first time, looking for weapons.

As he turned left in a nearby corridor, jumping to the side to avoid another tower of spare parts, Auram saw blinding white light. He rose a hand to protect his eyes. No other room was lit - there had to be a reason. Pointing with his sword, he walked to the glass door. Sweat rolled over his back while he avoided all traps Ningrisu had set. The metal mountains that would warn him if they even a single part of them fell on the floor.

What could lie behind it? The rumored evil robotic horde? The secret, world-destroying weapon? The six Mekk-Knights, repaired and ready for another fight?

The door slid open, but with the harsh sound of strained metal and breaking parts, stopped. Auram pushed them open, crushing the plastic rims. He stepped in and immediately rose his foot again. The little room was relatively clean - but all light fell over it and left no secret. Red, sticky puddles littered the floor. Auram did not dare breathe; it was going to smell of old rust and fresh blood.  
What had Ningrisu been doing to himself?

Cold lights flooded the room, still and silent. Huge shadow crawled across the wall as Auram walked to the only object in the room - a perfectly kept bed on the opposite side. No blood or metal littered the few centimeters around the bed. The floor sank a bit under Auram's leg; a trap. He cared not, unable to look away from the robot, covered by a soft purple blanket.

Ib! Auram touched her face - deathly cold like a sword. Her purple finger - dried and hard - scratched his fingers. A thin coat of metal covered her body, numerous wires plugged across it. She ticked like a clockwork - a pulse that came from neverbeating heart. Any moment she could open iron eyes and turn to Auram. Any moment she could open her mouth and speak with that soft song-like voice…

Pile of rubble fell behind Auram. Black shadow stood at the door - a bit taller than Auram. With heavy steps Ningrisu walked towards him, stopping every few steps, then putting more effort to bend his knee. Metal crunched and fine rust fell whenever he did that, but Auram saw nothing under the heavy purple robes.

"You are here," said he with a cold voice. No hate, no rage, no nostalgia.

'What have you done'? 'What are you doing'? 'Why is Ib alive'? 'Do you know what people are talking about you'? 'Is it true'? Auram opened his mouth, but all questions fought to come out and he said nothing.

"She is still like that day, is she not? Do you think she could wake up one day and be herself - not merely a program I have made to run in her place?" Ningrisu's hand - metal fingers with metal joints and gaping hole in the palm - touched Ib's forehead. "One day, I…"

"You will stop," answered Auram. He put a finger in the broken part of the hand - cold and bloody like a sword. "Look what you are doing to yourself! Do you think she would have wanted that?"

Ningrisu pressed a button on his nail. "I have pondered the same question long ago. Can I sacrifice the whole world to save her after she sacrificed herself to save the world?" He sighed - it sounded worse than all hissing lights. "She would never agree. But I am not doing it for her. It is for a selfish coward who never found enough bravery for anything."

"What world will she wake up in? Dead, barren wasteland! It is true, is it not? You have found the Wand! You are building the tower, you are building the robots! That thing could drain the whole world of its magic! Yours, too! Do you have to revive her if you will die? You can't be even doing it for yourself!" Auram shouted everything without a pause for breathing. His face flushed red and his eyes moved between Ib's body and Ningrisu.

"She should not have died because her brother could not protect her. Do you remember when we came here for the first time," Ningrisu closed his eyes with the sound of metal against metal, "and Lee promised to make us heroes? We ended only with sacrifices. Blue Sky sacrificed himself to stop Lee, Ib sacrificed herself to save the world. Making sacrifices - that is all we have been doing. Can't I make one last, greater sacrifice to save her?"

A small robot came through the door - a pile of drums made to resemble a skeleton. It crashed into the piles of rubbish a few times, always producing a different tone. Finally, it reached Ningrisu and with some strange tool removed the broken hand and drove away.

"Another invention?" asked Auram, his hand on his blade.

"Cymbal Skeleton. It repairs broken robots; makes the process much easier. I don't have to look at every detail and wonder where I have mistaken. Have you come only to talk to me? Now that you know I am not stopping, what will you do?"

Ningrisu turned to leave, not waiting an answer. Auram held his rusty hand. "I don't want to fight you," he stopped for a moment to take a deep breath, "but you threaten our future. You leave me no choice."

"Ah, so you choose the world over me. Another sacrifice, then." Ningrisu smiled. "What is this future? The one Lee promised us? How can you believe that lair?"

Auram closed his eyes, yet he still saw Ningrisu's shadow in front of him. "I don't… At first, I did not. But all she described exists!" His voice grew higher and higher, louder and louder. It filled the empty cracks of the lab, where the blinding white light could not reach. "I saw the forests and fields. The other Legacy - the Crown; I have found it! We saved a Krawler! Those little machines that could only destroy - but we purified it! The Cursadia - that's how we call ourselves. We will find every tribe and tell them the Mekk-Knights are gone! We will free them from the darkness!"

A jolt of warmth passed through Ningrisu's iron hand, all the way to his almost unbeating heart.

"And we need you. We need your genius, your abilities! You can help us, Ning! You don't have to wither in darkness as your body becomes iron and your heart slowly dies to the coldness. You can go with us in the sunlight! An amazing world, is it not?"  
Thick clouds hid the bright sun in Ningrisu's thoughts as Auram stopped talking. He pulled his hand away.

"Yet it is one without Ib. Neither you, neither I want to fight. But unless I die, crushed the hopelessness of my dream, or I let my body become a machine and lose any feeling, I will not stop. I doubt you will let your dream slip by so easily, either. If you don't want to fight a war," Ningrisu let his top gown fell to the ground. Blood and metal formed his weak body, with wires in every wound, "kill me now. I can't fight against you."


End file.
